Benedict Arnold V (January 14, 1741 [O.S. January 3, 1740][1][2] – June
14, 1801) was a general during the American Revolutionary War who originally
fought for the American Continental Army, but switched sides to the British
Empire. As a general still on the American side, he obtained command of the fort
at West Point, New York, and attempted unsuccessfully to surrender it to the
British. After this he served with British forces as a Loyalist. Stan Klos

Benedict Arnold

Revolutionary War Major General

ARNOLD, Benedict, soldier, born in
Norwich, Connecticut, 14 Jan., 1741; died in London, England, 14 June, 1801. His
ancestor, William Arnold (born in Leamington, Warwickshire, in 1587), came to
Providence in 1636, and was associated with Roger Williams as one of the
fifty-four proprietors in the first settlement of Rhode island. His son Benedict
moved to Newport, and was governor of the colony from 1663 to 1666, 1669 to
1672, 1677 to 1678, when he died. His son Benedict was a member of the assembly
in 1695. His son Benedict, third of that name, moved to Norwich in 1730; was
cooper, ship-owner, and sea-captain, town surveyor, collector, assessor, and
selectman. He married, 8 Nov., 1733, Hannah, daughter of John Waterman, widow of
Absalom King. Of their six children, only Benedict and Hannah lived to grow up.
Benedict received a respectable school education, including some knowledge of
Latin. He was romantic and adventurous, excessively proud and sensitive,
governed rather by impulse than by principle. He was noted for physical strength
and beauty, as well as for bravery. He possessed immense capacity both for good
and for evil, and circumstances developed him in both directions. At the age of
fifteen he ran away from home and enlisted in the Connecticut army, marching to
Albany and Lake George to resist the French invasion; but, getting weary of
discipline, he deserted and made his way home alone through the wilderness.

He was employed in a drug shop at Norwich until 1762, when he removed to New
Haven and established himself in business as druggist and bookseller. He
acquired a considerable property, and engaged in the West India trade, sometimes
commanding his own ships, as his father had done. He also carried on trade with
Canada, and often visited Quebec. On 22 Feb., 1767, he married Margaret,
daughter of Samuel Mansfield. They had three sons, Benedict, Richard, and Henry.
She died 19 June, 1775. On one of his voyages, being at Honduras, he fought a
duel with a British sea-captain who called him a "Damn Yankee"; the captain was
wounded and apologized. He occasionally visited England.

At noon of 20 April, 1775, the news of the
Battle of Lexington reached New
Haven, and Arnold, who was captain of the governor's guards, about 60 in number,
assembled them on the college green and offered to lead them to Boston. Gen.
Wooster thought he had better wait for regular orders, and the selectmen refused
to supply ammunition; but, upon Arnold's threatening' to break into the
magazine, the selectmen yielded and furnished the ammunition, and the company
marched to Cambridge. Arnold immediately proposed the capture of Ticonderoga and
Crown Point, and the plan was approved by
Dr. Warren, chairman of the committee of safety. Arnold was commissioned as
colonel by the provincial congress of Massachusetts, and directed to raise 400
men in the western counties and surprise the forts. The same scheme had been
entertained in Connecticut, and troops from that colony and from Berkshire, with
a number of "Green Mountain Boys," had already started for the lakes under
command of Ethan Allen. On meeting them
Arnold claimed the command, but when it was refused he joined the expedition as
a volunteer and entered Ticonderoga side by side with Allen. A few days later
Arnold captured St. John's. Massachusetts asked Connecticut to put him in
command of these posts, but Connecticut preferred Allen.

Arnold returned to Cambridge early in July, proposed to Washington the
expedition against Quebec by way of the Kennebec and Chaudiere rivers, and was
placed in command of 1,100 men and started from Cambridge 11 Sept. The
enterprise, which was as difficult and dangerous as
Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, was
conducted with consummate ability, but was nearly ruined by the misconduct of
Col. Enos, who deserted and returned to Massachusetts with 200 men and the
greater part of the provisions. After frightful hardships, to which 200 more men
succumbed, on 13 Nov., the little army climbed the heights of Abraham. As
Arnold's force was insufficient to storm the city, and the garrison would not
come out to fight, he was obliged to await the arrival of Montgomery, who had
just taken Montreal. In the great assault of 31 Dec., in which
Montgomery was slain, Arnold
received a wound in the leg. For his gallantry he was now made
brigadier-general. He kept up the siege of Quebec till the following April, when
Wooster arrived and took command. Arnold was put in command of Montreal. The
British, being now heavily reinforced, were able to drive the Americans from
Canada, and early in June Arnold effected a junction with Gates at
Ticonderoga. During the summer he
was busily occupied in building a fleet with which to oppose and delay the
advance of the British up Lake
Champlain. On 11 Oct. he fought a terrible naval battle near Valcour Island,
in which he was defeated by the overwhelming superiority of the enemy in number
of ships and men; but he brought away part of his flotilla and all his surviving
troops in safety to Ticonderoga, and his resistance had been so obstinate that
it discouraged Gen. Carleton, who retired to Montreal for the winter. This
relief of Ticonderoga made it possible to send 3,000 men from the northern army
to the aid of Washington, and
thus enabled that commander to strike his great blows at Trenton and Princeton.

Among Allen's men concerned in the capture of Ticonderoga in the preceding year
was Lieut. John Brown, of Pittsfield, who on that occasion had some difficulty
with Arnold. Brown now brought charges against Arnold of malfeasance while in
command at Montreal, with reference to exactions of private property for the use
of the army. The charges were investigated by the board of war, which pronounced
them "cruel and groundless" and entirely exonerated Arnold, and £he report was
confirmed by congress. Nevertheless, a party hostile to Arnold had begun to grow
up in that body. Gates
had already
begun to intrigue against
Schuyler,
and Charles Lee had done his best to ruin Washington. The cabal or faction that
afterward took its name from Conway was already forming. Arnold was conspicuous
as an intimate friend of Schuyler and Washington, and their enemies began by
striking at him. This petty persecution of the commander-in-chief by slighting
and insulting his favorite officers was kept up until the last year of the war,
and such men as Greene, Morgan,
and Stark were almost driven from the service by it. On 19 Feb., 1777, congress
appointed five new major-generals--Stirling, Mifflin,
St. Clair, Stephen, and
Lincoln--thus passing over Arnold, who was the senior brigadier. None of these
officers had rendered services at all comparable to his, and, coming as it did
so soon after his heroic conduct on Lake Champlain, this action of congress
naturally incensed him. He behaved very well, however, and expressed his
willingness to serve under the men lately his juniors, while at the same time he
requested congress to restore him to his relative rank.

The last week in April 2,000 British troops under Gov. Tryon invaded Connecticut
and destroyed the military stores at Danbury. They were opposed by Wooster with
600 men, and a skirmish ensued, in which that general was slain. By this time
Arnold, who was at New Haven, on a visit to his family, arrived on the scene
with several hundred militia, and there was a desperate fight at Ridge-field, in
which Arnold had two horses shot from under him. The British were driven to
their ships, and narrowly escaped capture. Arnold was now pro-rooted to the rank
of major-general and presented by congress with a fine horse, but his relative
rank was not restored. While he was at Philadelphia inquiring into the reasons
for the injustice that had been done him, the country was thrown into
consternation by the news of Burgoyne's advance and the fall of Ticonderoga's. At
Washington's suggestion, Arnold again joined the northern army, and by a
brilliant stratagem dispersed the army of St. Leger, which, in cooperation with
Burgoyne, was coming down the Mohawk
valley, and had laid siege to Fort Stanwix. After Schuyler had been superseded
by Gates, Arnold was placed in command of the left wing of the army on Bemis
heights. In the battle of 19 Sept., at Freeman's farm, he frustrated Burgoyne's
attempt to turn the American left, and held the enemy at bay till nightfall. If
properly reinforced by Gates, he would probably have inflicted a crushing defeat
upon Burgoyne. But Gates, who had already begun to dislike him as a friend of
Schuyler, was enraged by his criticisms on the battle of Freeman's farm, and
sought to wreak his spite by withdrawing from his division some of its best
troops.

This gave rise to a fierce quarrel. Arnold asked permission to return to
Philadelphia, and Gates granted it. But many officers, knowing that a decisive
battle was imminent, and feeling no confidence in Gates, entreated Arnold to
remain, and he did so. Gates issued no order directly superseding him, but took
command of the left wing in person, giving the right wing to
Lincoln. At the critical moment of
the decisive battle of 7 Oct., Arnold rushed upon the field without orders, and
in a series of magnificent charges broke through the British lines and put them
to flight. The credit of this great victory, which secured for us the alliance
with France, is due chiefly to Arnold, and in a less degree to Morgan. Gates was
not on the field, and deserves no credit whatever. Just at the close of the
battle Arnold was severely wounded in the leg that had been hurt at Quebec. He
was carried on a litter to Albany, and remained there disabled until spring. On
20 Jan., 1778, he received from congress an antedated commission restoring him
to his original seniority in the army.

On 19 June, as he was still too lame for field service, Washington put him in
command of Philadelphia, which the British had just evacuated. The Tory
sentiment in that city was strong, and had been strengthened by disgust at the
alliance with France, a feeling which Arnold seems to have shared. He soon
became engaged to a Tory lady, Margaret, daughter of Edward Shippen, afterward
chief justice of Pennsylvania. She was celebrated for her beauty, wit, and
nobility of character. During the next two years Arnold associated much with the
Tories, and his views of public affairs were no doubt influenced by this
association. He lived extravagantly, and became involved in debt. He got into
quarrels with many persons, especially with
Joseph Reed, president of the executive council of the state. These troubles
wrought upon him until he made up his mind to resign his commission, obtain a
grant of land in central New York, settle it with some of his old soldiers, and
end his days in rural seclusion. His request was favorably entertained by the
New York legislature, but a long list of charges now brought against him by Reed
drove the scheme from his mind.

The charges were investigated by a committee of congress, and on all those
that affected his integrity he was acquitted. Two charges -- first, of having
once in a hurry granted a pass in which some due forms were overlooked, and,
secondly, of having once used some public wagons, which were standing idle, for
saving private property in danger from the enemy--were proved against him; but
the committee thought these things too trivial to notice, and recommended an
unqualified verdict of acquittal. Arnold then, considering himself vindicated,
resigned his command of Philadelphia. But as Reed now represented that further
evidence was forthcoming, congress referred the matter to another committee,
which shirked the responsibility through fear of offending Pennsylvania, and
handed the affair over to a court-martial. Arnold clamored for a speedy trial,
but Reed succeeded in delaying it several months under pretence of collecting
evidence. On 26 Jan., 1780, the court-martial rendered its verdict, which agreed
in every particular with that of the committee of congress; but for the two
trivial charges proved against Arnold, it was decided that he should receive a
reprimand from the commander-in-chief. Washington, who considered Arnold the
victim of persecution, couched the reprimand in such terms as to convert it into
eulogy, and soon afterward offered Arnold the highest command under himself in
the northern army for the next campaign. But Arnold in an evil hour had allowed
himself to be persuaded into the course that has blackened his name forever.

Three years had elapsed since
Saratoga, and the fortunes of the Americans, instead of improving, had grown
worse and worse. France had as yet done but little for us, our southern army had
been annihilated, our paper money had become worthless, our credit abroad had
hardly begun to exist. Even Washington wrote that "he had almost ceased to
hope." The army, clad in rags, half-starved and unpaid, was nearly ripe for
the mutiny that broke out a few months later, and desertions to the British
lines averaged more than 100 a month. The spirit of desertion now seized upon
Arnold, with whom the British commander had for some time tampered through the
mediation of John Andre and an American
loyalist, Beverley Robinson. Stung by the injustice he had suffered, and
influenced by history surroundings, Arnold made up his mind to play a part like
that which Gen. Monk had played in the restoration of Charles II. to the British
throne. By putting the British in possession of the Hudson river, he would give
them all that they had sought to obtain by the campaigns of 1776-'77; and the
American cause would thus become so hopeless that an opportunity would be
offered for negotiation.

Arnold was assured that Lord North would renew the liberal terms already
offered in 1778, which conceded everything that the Americans had demanded in
1775. By rendering a cardinal service to the British, he might hope to attain a
position of such eminence as to conduct these negotiations, end the war, and
restore America to her old allegiance, with her freedom from parliamentary
control guaranteed. In order to realize these ambitious dreams, Arnold resorted
to the blackest treachery. In July, 1780, he sought and obtained command of West
Point in order to surrender it to the enemy. When his scheme was detected by the
timely capture of Andre, he fled to the British at New York, a disgraced and
hated traitor. Instead of getting control of affairs, like Gen. Monk, he had
sold himself cheap, receiving a brigadier-general's place in the British army
and a paltry stun of money. In the spring of 1781 he conducted a plundering
expedition into Virginia. In September of the same year he was sent to attack
New London, in order to divert Washington from his southward march against
Cornwallis.

In the following winter he went with his wife to London, where he was well
received by the king and the Tories, but frowned upon by the Whigs. In 1787 he
removed to St. John's, New Brunswick, and entered into mercantile business with
his sons Richard and Henry. In 1791 he returned to London and settled there
permanently. In 1792 he fought a bloodless duel with the earl of Landerdale, for
a remark which the latter had made about him in the House of Lords. His last
years were embittered by remorse.

A fine letter at the latter stages
of the Canadian invasion. Arnold had left the siege of Quebec in the hands of
General Wooster and gone to Montreal to recuperate, where he learned of an
impending attack on the small American garrison at The Cedars, on the St.
Lawrence just west of Montreal, commanded by Bedel: ‘I have received certain
intelligence,., that the Inhabitants of Isle Perot. River des Chenes, quinchien
{Quinze Chiens] and the Cedars; Parishes near your Post...are united in a design
of cutting off your party. This Intelligence is Just come to hand, and I have
thought proper to send an express to acquaint you with it. You will take every
possible precaution to prevent a surprise by keeping your men as near together
as can be and Fortifying as well as your Situation will a1ow. Two Hundred Men
from Sr. Johns are ordered to Join you Immediately Write me by return of the
Bearer who has orders to hurry on the Ammunition etc to you:'

In May The Cedars was attacked by bout 500
Indians and 150 French and English- The ill fated garrison and the relief column
from Montreal were captured. Two prisoners were executed and four or five were
later tortured and killed by the Indians; the survivors were finally turned over
to Arnold. By June the American invasion of Canada was in disarray and a
withdrawal was ordered.

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